Actually, it stems from a play, which was later made into a movie. Allyson's complaint stands, regardless.

There are several versions of the movie out there. I got one from Netflix a year or so ago to watch. I must have gotten the wrong one, because I was bored and I couldn't understand what they were saying. Is there a particular version of it that y'all would recommend? I do want to see it - but not the one I saw.

The one with Ingrid Bergman is always good.

Pedantic fan of the play here: The play was actually titled "Angel Street" and starred Vincent Price (well who else would you choose for the role of the creepy husband?). The lowering of the gas lights is mentioned, but I don't think the term actually came into play until the movie was made and was retitled "Gaslight."

I always wonder what Angela Lansbury-as-Jessica Fletcher would say to very very young Angela Lansbury as nasty maid in Gaslight.

Well, definition 5 of unique does allow for unusual/different, but my big beef with it is when it is being used to describe a mass-produced object - not 7 vases that are all made of different materials in different shapes but 40,000 vases all the same height, width, and depth, all the same shade of robin's egg blue, all made by a machine to all the same tolerances but being marketed as unique.

As much as lingo drives me up the wall, I have to admit that I lived in the 80s and said all kinds of horrible phrases so I can't really blame kids these days.

Ah, the 80's. We all used Valley Girl accents and phases even if we lived in the midwest. It's a wonder our parents and teachers didn't smack us (though I'm sure they, like, you know, totally wanted to).

<raises hand>

I grew up in the 80s and lived in the San Fernando Valley during most of that time so, yup, I'm actually a Valley Girl (hence the screen name). However, even I tired of hearing the Valley Girl (and Valley Dude) intonations and, when I started working in a drugstore in SFV, I made a conscious effort to get the Valley Girl-ness out of me, especially when dealing with business calls, because I felt it made me sound really dumb (okay, honestly, I thought others who talked that way sounded dumb also).

As for annoying trendy expressions:

my bad (always hated that)bucket list (on the top of my list right now and I can't really explain why I despise it so much)psych (popular when I was teen and I never ever ever used it)

"We're pregnant," used by couples to announce a pregnancy. Pretty sure only one of you is pregnant unless there have been recent advances in medical science that I've overlooked.

Have to admit I've disliked this one as well. When I first started hearing it, I thought, perhaps, there was some change that made it better to say "we're pregnant," as opposed to "she's pregnant" or "I'm pregnant."

Corporate-speak. All of it.

Reminds me of this hellhole where I used to work years ago with a hellish area director. She used to use the term "empower" a lot. One day, after hearing her use it, I commented to someone that, to me, "empower" = we are giving you more work but not giving you more money to do it. I wonder if that got back to her because I never heard her use that term again after that (which I wouldn't care -- she was a total cow and we had a mutual great dislike for each other).

According to one of our vice presidents, everything should be intuitive. Elevators, computers, software, employees, etc. You name it, everything should know what you want and make it happen.

I refer to that as pie in the sky mentality.

This reminds me of the elevators in the Douglas Adams books. They were build with a mild telepathy, so they sensed where you were and where you wanted to go, and appeared to pick you up as soon as you thought about moving.

Of course, this level of awareness made them get pretty bored with the whole 'going up and down' thing, and as Adams said, they soon took to squatting in basements sulking.

I thought of one this morning as I laid awake for a bit. I just dislike any euphemism for a woman's menstrual cycle. I dislike the technical terms though so that doesn't leave me with many ways to refer to it.

I've been trying to figure out clever and non-cutesie ways of putting it. "I'm being decidedly unlike a Vulcan this week."

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I thought of one this morning as I laid awake for a bit. I just dislike any euphemism for a woman's menstrual cycle. I dislike the technical terms though so that doesn't leave me with many ways to refer to it.

I've been trying to figure out clever and non-cutesie ways of putting it. "I'm being decidedly unlike a Vulcan this week."

We call it "Vinnie." Long story.

Logged

It is the policy of the United States Navy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard its vessels.